Camp K Unit
by WhimsicalHeart
Summary: Alex is protecting the son of a retired general but MI6 decides he needs back up. So they send in K Unit, pretending to be counsellors at the Summer Camp.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** well this is my first attempt at an Alex Rider story or this sort of genre so forgive any character errors or general errors of style I assume it'll get better as I get more experience. I've tried to avoid clichés as far as possible but considering the fact that I'm bringing in K Unit some will be unavoidable. to a certain extent, I'm going to write the K Unit characters as they generally appear in fics though as I've grown fond of them but there may be a few differences. Also, I am not going to make excuses for my update habits. I have access to a computer but not the net so when I can go online I'll update. The only internet I get on regularly is on my cell but I can't update from there. I am also a first year varsity student in Computer engineering as of the 18th of January and apparently that means I will lose any semblance of a life. I do have the plot planned out and a few chapters written up, this is just to see how it is received. But anyway, on with the story.

**Disclaimer:** before I could even try to pretend to be Anthony Horrowitz I would need a gender change

**Back-up **

The Royal and General Bank was, as per usual, devoid of any real customers, this would not have come as a surprise to anyone who had an inkling of what the Royal and General Bank was, but there were few enough of those. Anyone who actually went in with the intention of opening an account usually came out disgusted or disappointed. The fees were exorbitant, the Bank empty and the staff did not inspire confidence, to say the least, then again they didn't think they needed to, they had enough of their own.

Several stories up, in a sombre waiting room sat four men. At a glance, you would think that they had nothing in common, not even nationality. If you looked more carefully however you may find that there was something about them that was the same. Maybe it was the way they held themselves, alert, at attention with an almost military discipline, or perhaps it was in the way they all seemed to be in shape and well muscled. An extremely astute person may have noticed the flicker of recognition when they'd seen who else was in the room, but you'd have to have been quick. If you'd met them on the street you'd never have thought they had trained together, and if you'd known they'd spent eleven weeks living together you may find yourself shocked to know that not one of them knew the other's names. But that was life, or work. Four heads snapped to the door seconds before it opened and a cheerful girl of Hispanic origins told them that Mr Blunt would see them now. They filed out of the waiting room and into an office, unconsciously falling back into the formation they had used at Brecon Beacons. The dark haired, short, muscular man took the lead, followed by another dark haired man this one far thinner and taller with square features. Third was a slim blond man with calluses on his first and second fingers, the type you get from permanently having to sew clothes together, or people, which ever pleased you. The last in the line was a brunette with an easy going face and lips that were inclined to smile, few knew it but that face could become rock hard in less than a second. They faced a man who in all honestly should have been called Mr Grey not Mr Blunt. Everything about him was grey, his clothes, his hair and astonishingly enough, even his skin had a grey tint to it. Behind him was a serious looking woman sucking on a peppermint. She began the conversation, if you could call it that.

"You all know each other so I'm not going to waste time introducing you. I am Mrs Jones and while I know only agent Daniels is technically an MI6 agent we have organised to borrow you for the duration of this mission. The situation is certainly not ideal, but we have no time to do anything else."

She placed a piece of paper on the table and slid it across to them. It was a photo of a young, blond boy, he was fair skinned and of indeterminable age. A teenager certainly but there was something in his face that would make you question that, something in the way he held his head and how his eyes seemed to have seen too much. Instead of a happy, carefree expression that was so typical of youth, nothing graced his features. There was no hint of a smile or of laughter, no anger or sadness visible, nor the defiance they'd grown accustomed to, his face was empty. They regarded it for a few seconds and looked back up at the pair before them. This time it was the grey man who spoke.

"You are all familiar with Alex Rider, or Cub as I believe you called him. He is one of our most useful agents and is currently on a mission. As it happens, we need to get a few, believable people to him."

"Alex is in a boarding school keeping an eye on the son of a retired General and businessman, who we believe may be attacked soon. He will be spending his holidays with the boy at a summer camp but new faces have suddenly appeared. We need to get people in who can protect Alex and not look like they're following a script. We hope that the time you spent with him in the SAS training will be sufficient to make it seem like you know him. You'll be expected to protect him in a combat situation and keep your eyes open for suspicious individuals. We have organised papers and cover stories for you and while Alex knows to look out for help he doesn't know who will be coming, to help with the surprise. Any questions?"

* * *

And that was how the four servants of Mother England found themselves on a plane flying towards a small island, just off the coast of America for an extended 'holiday'. James Wolfe and Ben Fox were supposedly old friends who were taking their summer to gain valuable work experience and people skills. They were doing this by volunteering as counsellors at a children's summer camp with an American program intent on giving people from all walks of life a chance to live and work in America. There were three others coming over from the UK with them, one was a blonde Scotsman who would be the camp's doctor called Peter Linda, another was an energetic man called Emmet Evans who permanently wore a badge with an eagle on it and was an avid bird watcher. The fifth man had been cleared and was of no practical interest to the team, except for as a source of amusement. He had landed up sitting next to Emmett Evans who had already earned himself a nickname, two actually. Birdman and Eagle, because of the badge, of course. The fifth man in the party, Francis Jamieson, or Frank, was fast becoming scared of the strange man alongside him. Frank suffered from ornithophobia, or a fear of birds in layman's English and suffice to say, he was starting to think that he'd picked the wrong chair. The man next to him scared the living daylights out of him and seemed happily oblivious to the fact. Frank had sat through hours of hearing about how to distinguish between the call of a Pied Kingfisher and the call of a Starling. The names meant little to him and the differences between them escaped him. He heard a chuckle come from the two men in front of him and wished he could switch seats. He may have been even more distressed had he heard their whispered conversation.

_Since when did those to sound even vaguely alike? _

_I don't think they even resemble each other._

* * *

At the other end of the world, the blond boy from the photo was packing his bags. Alex Rider carefully laid aside a set of spare clothes for the trip to the summer camp, along with a few other things he would be taking on the plane. His iPod from Smithers as well as a few other gadgets he'd kept or received for the mission. A fine quality ball point pen which contained a mike, voice recorder, torch, small, but relatively powerful laser and a tranquiliser. A nice new watch, which worked unlike the last one, but also contained a tracking device and alarm. This one was waterproof, glowed in the dark and had, in case the battery ever got stolen, could also be solar power. So he'd just have to ask his kidnappers to be polite enough to kidnap him during the day. His clothes were all made of material that was bullet proof at a distance, except for his jackets which would be bullet proof from much closer. He had a rubric's cube key ring which if he completed and tapped the middle block of each face exactly twice would transform into a grenade powerful enough to destroy a single story building. It also had a mechanism that would automatically shift the blocks into the correct position when used in conjunction with his watch. His laces were a surprise gift from Tamara Knight, they, like her own, contained laser wire. He sighed, at least this time MI6 had given him something which helped his school work. He'd taken extra maths and science lessons when he should have been doing French. It hadn't taken the school long to figure out that he spoke French fluently and didn't understand a great deal of his maths and science. MI6 had said they'd send in back up but had said little else for security reasons. The door to his room opened and his roommate walked in. John Smith, an unfortunate choice of name by his father, was the son of a General who had very recently annoyed the American mafia and also Alex's charge. In a way, Alex was grateful that the situation had been explained to John before hand and so he knew exactly who Alex was. Alex genuinely liked the younger, by two months, boy and would have hated the feeling of having John think that the friendship was only a ploy to get into a position to protect him. He was also generally fond of the General. He'd been outraged when he'd heard about Alex's job and for no other reason than he was worried that the fifteen year old would be hurt. The first thing he'd done was tell Alex that he was doing the wrong things and should come back to the business when he was an adult if it appealed to him. He hadn't pressed the issue when Alex had said he couldn't but, courtesy of his iPod, he'd heard the General giving Mrs Jones an earful about the situation. He'd spoken to Alex about it later, not asking him why or telling him to stop just using one of the strangest analogies Alex had ever heard, but probably one of the truest.

_Just remember this Alex, it all depends on what you want out of life. An eagle sores and is king of the sky, but know this, weasels don't get sucked into the engine of a plane. Just think about that lad. _

"You ready to go?"

"Yeah, just let me finish with this."

Out of habit Alex put a few hairs into the zippers on his bag before sealing it.

"All done."

"Dad's bought business class tickets for us, I hope you don't mind, I know we can afford better he just doesn't want to-"

"Draw attention to us. It's cool mate, he didn't have to do this for me in any case."

Alex finished with a grin, playing his part perfectly. Privately he agreed with some parts of the General's theory and disagreed with others. General Harry Smith believed in inconspicuousness. He said that a police escort just told people that you thought you were important and gave whoever wanted to kill you a nice, flashing, noisy target. If you went by in an average car, no one would know the difference. That was where Alex disagreed, most people wouldn't know the difference but a trained assassin would make it his business to know the difference. That was when bullet proof windows came in handy, the police escort, not so much. He knew because he had been taught. Then again, he also knew that no matter how many precautions you took, there was always a way in. But he understood not drawing attention to yourself. So John did average things. His clothes weren't overly expensive, they were nice but they were the same clothes a thousand other teens wore. He went to a good school but it wasn't something like Dr Grief's institution. Even his name was common, John Smith. Memorable only because it was so commonplace. John grinned back at Alex and picked up his carry bag.

"c'mon, the school will send our bags to the airport for us and you _don't_ want to be late for dad."

Alex nodded and slung his bag over his shoulder, following John out the room.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** ok, we've jumped to the actual summer camp, I'm probably not going to give the island a name, quite simply because that would require me taking out my atlas and it would put limits on what I could make happen. What do you guys think so far, good/bad/indifferent? Well whatever, I hope you enjoy this and that my paragraphing is a little better than last time. Feedback and constructive criticism are always appreciated. Pointers too, I've never been on a camp before, except for two three day stints with my school a few years ago, and I get the feeling that South African camps are very different to the American variety. I'll try to stick to the American version (courtesy my TV set), with one exception. Having counsellors who are the head of your cabin. We had one or two counsellors assigned to a group of us. Big thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter.

**Disclaimer:** I would also need a few decades added on to my current age before I could claim to be Anthony Horrowitz

**Out of Everyone, you picked him?!**

Wolf snorted as he surveyed his new living quarters. They were better than what he'd been staying in until recently. Actually, until recently he'd forgotten what you used a bed for, the only thing he'd used was a military issue sleeping bag and the ground.

They were in a log cabin that looked like some of the logs hadn't been properly sanded. They each had a bed with a thin mattress, a chest of draws/ desk combination and a small bedside table. It wasn't the Ritz but it would do.

They were three to a room, instead of 12 like the kids. Quite simply because the counsellors didn't get bunks. He dumped his bag on his bed and began unpacking with the same military precision he used everywhere else. There wouldn't be any of his fellow SAS men with him, they'd all landed up in a different cabin and he doubted that was accidental. It was probably an attempt to have a pair of eyes in as many places as possible.

He snorted before he left to go to the mess hall. They were all meeting there before the brats arrived. He met Fox on the way out and they walked to the mess together.

"Do you know where they'll be staying?"

"Yes, in the Mississippi cabin."

"Isn't that the one Eagle's assigned to watch."

"Seems so."

They sat down with the rest of the group, truncating their conversation. Snake was at the opposite side of the circle while Eagle sat next to a group of female counsellors, typical. The buzz of chatter filled the room as they waited for everyone to arrive. There were about eight present and eleven in total if he remembered correctly. It took another four minutes but soon all the counsellors were present. A tall gangly man with a sticking out Adam's apple and a mop of brown hair stood up.

"So is this everyone."

There were various mutters of consent from everyone present and the man nodded his head.

"Well you see, how we do things with the kids is a little different. They call us by our surnames, or a nick name, usually an animal or tree or something, if you prefer so I'd like you to all tell me what you want them to call you. We'll go round in a circle all right? I'll start; the kids usually call me by my surname, Kruger."

Wolf raised his eyebrows, oh so slightly at the name and watched as Kruger turned his head to look at the person immediately on his left. After a second pause, he decided on a nickname and everyone turned to look at Fox.

"Surname, Fox."

"Surname, Wolfe."

"Surname, Wang."

"Nickname, Oak"

"Surname, Jackson."

"Surname Salvador."

"Nickname, Eagle."

The list continued with relative smoothness until the last person, Snake.

"I'm not sure, I'm not good at thinking up nicknames and my surname, Linda, may cause some hilarity."

He frowned at the idea, apparent hilarity and Snake did not mix.

"What about Snake."

Wolf looked at Fox in surprise, picking a name that made a connection wasn't a good idea, especially that name. It didn't seem to faze Snake though, and if Wolf didn't know better, he'd say that Snake was expecting it.

"Why?"  
"Linda is German, right? It means serpent or snake so in a roundabout way it's your surname."

Snake nodded his head as if the thought had never occurred to him.

"So Snake?" Kruger queried and Snake just nodded.

"Well now that that's done I'm going to lay down a few ground rules about the camp. Campers aren't allowed out after 11 at night, if they're caught, you may assign whatever punishment you deem necessary but you have to give them something. If they lose something, they have to apologise to it in front of the rest of the group at breakfast before they get it back. No one is allowed in the pool or lake without a buddy..."

If Alex had to listen to another bus song, he swore he was going to go crazy and kill someone. He had heard 'the Quartermaster's Store', 'B-I-N-G-O', 'John Jacob Jingle Hymisched Smith' and 'The Wheels on the Bus' so many times that he was on the brink. He'd have thought that most kids his age would have been too embarrassed to try but evidently boredom set in and made them do strange things.

He nearly jumped for joy when he saw the camp; that had been the longest bus trip of his life. He poked John, who had somehow managed to fall asleep in the midst of the din. They hoped off the bus together managing to avoid being squashed in the stampede of teenagers.

"Guess we'd better find our bags."

Alex eyed the heap of duffel bags, backpacks, sleeping bags, tog bags and all other manner of bags with apprehension. Someone was shouting out dorm assignments so he tried to pay attention to that too.

"There, there, that's mine." John shouted, pointing at his duffel bag, which landed unceremoniously in the middle of the pile.

Alex's hand darted out tugging the bag off of the pile before something else could land on top of it. He saw what looked suspiciously like the strap of his bag peeking out from the bottom of the tower. He winced before tugging it out from underneath everything else.

"That all you brought with you?"  
"Yeah, we're in the Mississippi cabin according to that guy."

"You can hear him over this racket? I'm seriously impressed Alex."

The pair moved off looking at the name cards in front of all the dorms until they came to one called Mississippi. Strategically it was well placed close enough to the centre of things that if someone yelled they'd be heard by the rest and far enough away that you'd notice someone heading in their direction.

Its back was against a steep wall, so Alex ruled that out as a point of easy entry unless you had climbing equipment. It would also provide cover if they needed to get out in a hurry. He quickly examined the locks and windows when he came in and frowned at them. He could kick through the door's lock with minimal effort and the windows didn't even have locks.

"You take the top bunk." He said to John.

The lower ones were visible from the outside and the person on the lower bunk would be easy pickings for even an amateur sniper. Certainly Alex could have taken the shot in his sleep. He picked one of the bunks facing the cliff face, glad to see that while a teenage boy could probably squeeze out with a little effort, no full grown man would be entering through the window.

Gradually other boys filed in until they were full. The boys proceeded to introduce themselves and settle in. None of them seemed particularly threatening but Alex knew better than to judge by appearances. He'd just started to relax, determined to catch a little shut eye before orientation when someone burst into the room.

Alex was on his feet and knew the position of everyone in the room before his brain had time to think. When it did, confusion set in, that wasn't who he thought it was, was it? No it was, his back-up, that's what they must have meant, _don't worry about it you'll recognise them, don't tell the other kids though, only two are pretending to have known you from before. _Out of everyone they had available they'd picked him?! Standing in front of him, looking distinctly more happy and crazy than he had any right to be or than Alex had seen him before was Eagle.

"Hello Campers of the Mississippi cabin. I'm Eagle and I'll be your dorm head for the duration of your stay! It's my job to make sure you boys stay in line, know the rules and stay safe. I'll also be helping out with a few of the activities."

Alex stopped paying attention to what Eagle was saying. It took a few seconds for him to get past the initial shock and focus on what he was supposed to do. Was Eagle one of the ones who knew him? If so what was the excuse? He was snapped from his reverie by John elbowing him in the side.

"You at the back, what did I just say? You weren't paying attention were you?"

"No sir."

"Eagle will do, but in future I'd like you to listen to me. You make me feel unloved when you don't."

Alex nodded quickly, hiding his surprise. He'd never really gotten to know the men at the SAS for the most part they'd just ignored him but this Eagle was so different from the man he remembered he was still shocked.

Alex piled his plate full of food, he wasn't usually a big eater but he k new most growing boys were and it would look odd if he ate next to nothing. It could make someone suspicious.

Most people would think of it as small, silly or inconsequential but someone who was looking for a spy might dig further into his past if he thought of him as odd, especially considering his friendship with John Smith. The things he'd seen that had taken away his appetite had also left him with a healthy respect for caution.

He sat down in a gap between two other teenagers , facing John. They moved over slightly for him but otherwise, paid him no attention. It was strange the way it made him feel both envious and joyful.

He envied them for their ignorance and because they didn't need to pay attention, because they didn't look at someone and think about where they could be hiding a weapon or the best way to beat them in a fight. Moreover, he was joyful because they didn't notice him, because he wasn't Alex the druggie or Alex the gangster. It was a good feeling, one he had taken for granted. Behind him, he heard another familiar voice.

"I want the whole lotta you done by half past you hear me. I don't know who taught you how to keep a room clean but, quite frankly, they deserve to be shot. That room will be spotless **before** you go to bed tonight and we have an orientation session tonight at seven so you'd better be quick."

The speaker took a breath before he continued and in that time he spotted Alex.

"Well, well, well who is this? Oi Fox come here! Look it's Alex Rider, remember him from when we were working in that other camp."

A hand slapped down on his shoulder and reluctantly Alex looked up at Wolf.

"Not you," he groaned before turning to the rest of the Wolf's campers: "I feel for you guys, really I do, he is such a disciplinarian."

"We know." One of the girls grumbled back, looking distinctly harassed.

"Aw, come on now Alex, that's not nice" came a voice from the other side of him. Ben Daniels jogged forward and came to a stop next to Alex. Alex simply looked at them, unsure of what to say.

"Don't you miss being in our cabin?"

Alex pretended to think about it before answering.

"No, not really…"

He hoped that no one caught the way he had trailed off at the end of the sentence, suddenly remembering that he didn't know what to call them. He only knew Wolf by his code name and Fox by both this code and real name but what was the probability that he'd use those here? True, Eagle had been using his code name but could they do that for everyone. Thankfully, he was saved from revealing this by none other than Eagle.

"Wolfe! Fox! How darest thou two young scallywags prey upon this young rascal who has been placed under my command?"

"What did he just say?"

Alex shrugged and turned to look at Eagle, who was parading towards them like a peacock. Sweeping down the aisle like he owned the place. He seemed to have draped a bed sheet round himself, and was wearing a very strange hat and binoculars. He came to a stop next to Alex and turned to or on Wolf.

"How doest thou knowst this youngling. Prithee tell this one. This one much desires the knowledge of thine meeting orginale."

Alex stopped chewing and wondered if Eagle had failed poetry or just liked being incomprehensible. Probably a combination of the two. Wolf looked as confused as Alex felt except that he had an element of annoyed mixed in there.

Actually, if Alex were to be completely honest he had an element of I'm going to clobber you if I you don't change how you speak. Needless to say, Eagle missed, or ignored, the look entirely. Ben looked vaguely amused and bemused.

"I think he's trying to refer to himself in the third person. And I think he wants to know how we know Alex."

Wolf glared and, seeing as Eagle was happily oblivious to the imminent danger, took the initiative. That is to say, he smacked Eagle on the upside of the head and shouted:

"Speak properly you idiot!"

Eagle rubbed the back of his head and adopted a sulky face.

"Aw, come on Wolfe-y. I was just having a little fun. Besides, you're bothering one of my campers and I wanted to check why."

"I was his dorm head a year or so ago moron and if it pleases me, I'll bug him! And further more…"

They began moving forward towards the counsellors' table and Alex lost track of the conversation. Not that it was first and foremost on his mind. He'd heard what he needed to already. The SAS men were running with the truth albeit a slightly altered version of the truth.

Alex had been in Wolf and Fox's cabin a year ago and Wolf had been the head of the cabin, in a way. It just wasn't this type of camp and there had been three others, Eagle, Fox and Snake. Speaking of which, Alex would be his eye teeth that Snake was here too. His eye's flickered to where Wolf, Fox and Eagle had sat down. Eagle and Wolf were still bickering and probably would be all night. Three people to their left sat a familiar blond. _So_ thought Alex, _K Unit returns. _


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: **Hi, to everyone who's reading this hope you enjoy the story. Also, forgive punctuation and spelling errors in this chapter. Sorry, this is very random but just something I had to ask. A friend of mine seemed quite horrified at the idea of waking up at seven, apparently, this is quite early. See I'm used to being up, fed and dressed by five thirty or six at the latest so I was wondering when other people usually get up because really I find the 7 thing quite hilarious, but I did try to write taking that into account.

**Disclaimer: **Okay, the next thing I would need to be Anthony Horrowitz is a degree (and probably not in computer engineering)

**Orientation**

Orientations had never been Alex's thing. He knew which way was up and that was all he needed. Common sense would keep him out of sticky situations and if the spy instinct took over, a great deal of good luck and training got him out of the rest.

Orientations amounted to a waste of time and meant that more people stood the chance of recognizing him. Not a good thing in his profession, so it was with great reluctance that he headed over to the campfire with John.

He hadn't mentioned who his back up was to John. He felt vaguely guilty about it, but not enough to tell him. John had never been trained to handle interrogation and may let something slip which could be deadly in the wrong hands.

The evening started out with all the counsellors introducing themselves and then, a man who seemed to be the head counselor, Kruger, explaining what everyone did. There were of course the cabin heads, like Eagle and Wolf and then there were activity heads.

Snake took First Aid and Water Safety as well was being the camp's doctor. His cabin was the green one next to the medical bay, so that if anyone needed him at night, they could find him.

Wolf was, much to the distress of his cabin and Alex, the morning exercise man. Alex knew from experience that while Wolf could get up at any time and be fully functional, mornings put him in a foul mood. Ben would be taking them for Canoeing and Hiking while Eagle got the Bird Watching course.

That made Alex raise his eyebrows, Eagle had never struck him as the bird watching type, especially after what he'd seen that afternoon. In his experience, bird watching required patience and calmness, two things Eagle seemed to sorely lacking.

They had a variety of activities planned for them including, much to Alex's horror, a two day hike. Out to some mountain peak and back. Not only was that a tactical nightmare, it meant that he would be with the SAS men, in close quarters, for three days.

For the most part, he still wasn't sure what to think of them. He'd only met Wolf and Fox outside of the camp, and in all honesty, he didn't know what to expect. It wasn't like they were the friendliest bunch in training. They'd hardly exchanged a full sentence unless it had been necessary. He remembered Snake being friendly near the end of his stay but that had been about it.

The rest of the orientation was the usual rubbish, playing games like fruit salad and other supposed relationship building games. Yeah. Right. Finally, the end of the evening came and Alex returned to the cabin with a relieved sigh.

"So what did you think of the orientation?"

"Same old, same old, you?"

"Yeah, pretty much. What's that other counselor like? That one who knew you; you didn't seem all that happy about him being the Fitness Director."

"Fitness Director? You mean head torturer right?"

John snickered and swung his head and shoulders over the side of the bunk so that he could look at Alex.

"Are you scared of a little exercise Al?"

Alex looked up at his friend with a strange look in his eye before answering in his most ominous tone.

"A little exercise? No, that's not what it is. You'll see come morning. You'll see."

He let out a low chuckle before rolling on to his side and falling asleep.

Alex and John were probably the only two campers who were unsurprised by the loud wail that was supposed top wake them. Instead, they sat as calmly as before. The only sign either of them showed of having heard the sound was a slight wince from John.

Alex swung his legs off the top bunk and landed soundlessly, not that any noise would have been easy to hear in the noise that was their dorm. A look of astonishment crossed John's face before he followed his friend to the floor, not nearly as gracefully.

Alex was facing the door this time and was ready for Eagle when he burst in, practically bouncing. He was in a bright red camp T-shirt and black shorts. He'd managed to retain the binoculars and an eagle pin. Alex wondered if it was so that no one forgot his name.

"Rise and shine boys! We're going to be busy today and a good breakfast is a must have."

"It should be illegal to be that happy this early in the morning." one of the boys near Alex grumbled.

Alex smirked at this. It was already half past seven, in the SAS he'd often be out of bed much earlier and have a much harder day ahead of him. He glanced over at John, knowing that the General insisted that his son had a certain degree of military discipline to him, and they shared a grin before facing forward again.

"Breakfast is at eight guys, and activities start at nine. You guys get first rotation with Wolfe. Then you can go and do whatever. You all remember the list from last night? On that note if I don't see each and every one of you past my station I will boil you in Swiss cheese."

Breakfast had been uneventful and Alex was starting to wonder if it wasn't far too short. At least Wolf had time to sleep in, which would, hopefully, put him in a better mood, but Alex didn't plan on holding his breath.

Wolf wasn't much happier about the situation than Alex was. In fact, at that moment he was trying to figure out what to do with them. He didn't remember going to something like this when he was younger so he didn't have a basis to work off either. He didn't plan on giving them his SAS training either. Only Cub would keep up with that.

He had already eaten and was currently walking round the camp, trying to figure out what to do, and keeping an eye out for anyone who definitely didn't belong there. So far, he was coming up with nothing, for both first and second tasks.

He decided to take a quick inventory of the equipment and structures. There was an obstacle course that he could do in his sleep, a winding track that went round the perimeter of the camp, the climbing wall, lake, courts and a variety of balls and racquets.

He groaned inwardly as he saw the campers approaching him. Alex, who had been watching him for sometime, was getting seriously worried. He didn't guess at the SAS man's dilemma but he knew that the exercise would not be easy. He was trying to decide whether or not he should keep up or match the other kids.

It wasn't something any of the others would pick up but something that Alex saw immediately. Wolf was nervous, or, at least, he wasn't as self-assured as he usually was. He still looked like he knew what he was doing but he was being far more careful than normal.

Eventually, Wolf decided to start things on what he would call neutral ground. Sit-ups and push-ups. Three minutes worth of each. Needless to say, no one was too impressed and some of them were outraged because Wolf didn't believe in ladies' push-ups.

Wolf was about as sympathetic as Alex remembered. He didn't pay much attention to the grumbles and groans from behind him and the second they finished the sit ups he took them on a two mile jog round the camp.

Alex decided to stick with John and use his performance as a reference point. He was delighted to find that his friend could maintain a decent pace. Behind him, Wolf was running zig zags at the back of the group yelling at the kids to hurry up, he was growing old.

After the run, they were shown to an obstacle course, if you could call it that. It was pathetically easy. Up and over a wall (not even a few and it had a climbing net attached to it) a crawl through some mud, a zip line, a group of ropes that would need to be crossed Tarzan style and a balancing beam.

"Alex! You first."

So much for gauging his performance. Wolf walked up to him, and glared at him. Effectively, putting himself right next to John. A replacement bodyguard Alex realized. He was through the course in a matter of minutes and not even out of breath. Eagle was waiting for him on the other side.

"Well done! This boys from my cabin" Eagle proclaimed to the world, pointing down at Alex's head with one hand, and sticking his thumb in his armpit with the other. Creating what looked like a chicken wing with his arm.

"Off to the showers and then the medical cabin, we're doing a physical!" he bellowed on top of his voice. Alex didn't show that he was bothered on his face but John clearly was. Eagle clapped Alex on the shoulder and bent down laughing.

"He'll go after you're back so you can follow him, till then don't worry about it. Any idiot who wants to attack him will have to go through Wolf first and we both know how pigheaded Wolf can be."

Alex didn't acknowledge that he'd heard anything but both knew that he had. He broke into a jog and passed the others on his way to the showers, deliberately knock John down in the process.

"Stay close to the counselor." he whispered. "Hopefully he won't spot you and he'll only send you when I'm back. Till then he looks scary enough to scare off most people, so don't worry."

John stood up, brushed himself off and gave Alex a quick, curt nod after Alex apologized for knocking him over. With that, Alex headed off to the showers, and then Snake.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** morning all. I know I said I wasn't going to apologize for my update habits but that was because the reasons I couldn't were beyond my control. This time it was my fault. I'm a stupid idiot and forgot my flash stick in the computer labs. More than that I'm not in the habit of backing up my work so yeah, oops. I've been really bad about retyping the chapters I lost but this morning I saw I had a review that said "update, update, update" which made me feel really bad. So I typed up this chapter. It's not as good as the original but still pretty decent, a little shorter but I didn't have time to make it longer and I doubt you will get it if I wait. It's kinda actionless, just Snake and Alex but it moves things along. Things will start getting really interesting next chapter

**Disclaimer:** I think I live in sort of the complete wrong end of the world to be the owner of Alex Rider

**Medical**

The medical cabin was something of a surprise to Alex. Entering it was like entering a whole new world. The noise from outside was muted by the walls and closed door and everything seemed to radiated calm.

Alex was currently in a small waiting room with two chairs, a glass table and a few teenager magazines, not the best of company. To the left he could see a small room equipped with empty beds and a medicine cabinet. To his right a door opened to an office occupied by Snake. He looked up as Alex walked in and waved him through, closing the office door behind him.

Snake's office had a single large window which opened out on to the activities ground. You could see everything from there. At the other end of the field Alex saw an unfit boy from one of the cabins trying to cross the obstacle course, and not succeeding. He winced as he saw the boy finally get over the climbing wall only to stop at the mud pit. From the way he was shaking his head Alex guessed that he didn't want to go through the mud, which didn't impress Wolf at all.

"He makes them restart if they fail at something so it should be quite awhile before we have company" Snake commented from behind him. "You'd better get on the bed mister...?"

"Rider but you can call me Alex."

"And for the time being, I am Snake."

Alex hoped lightly on top of the doctor's metal bed before settling down. Snake stuck the stethoscope in his ears and seemed about to use it when he turned around, grumbling about his pen before grabbing one from the table. Removing the stethoscope before moving to Alex, leaving it to hang round his neck.

He did the usual check up. Starting with Alex's ears, nose and throat, moving to his pulse and blood pressure, followed by a quick breathing test. Nodding, Snake noted everything down in a file. While he worked he spoke to Alex in soft tones, which could easily be mistaken as soothing but were really just low enough that no one else could here.

"It's been awhile Cub; I could swear that you've grown. Three or so inches according to your file."

Silence.

"Can't say I expected to ever see you in the field. Never thought you were seriously being trained."

Silence, and a raised eyebrow.

"I take it you've had no problem in identifying any help you may need."

Silence.

"Touch your toes please."

Silence, but he moved to do as told. Snake put him through a set of flexibility exercises making notes as he went.

"Do you have any serious scars or old wounds on your person? I see your file mentions an op a few months ago."

More silence.

"I've checked for bugs you know," Snake said tapping the stethoscope. "They want me to have a look at your bullet wound. It's old enough that it should be Ok, but definitely needs to be monitored. Where is it?"

Was he joking, or did MI6 seriously send in people without telling them all the details? Scratch that, he already knew the answer to that one.

"Good thing that whoever sent in a sniper didn't send in a good one, you'd be dead otherwise."

The conversation was getting more and more awkward by the minute. Well, if you could call it a conversation seeing as it currently only had one participant. Hesitantly Alex removed his shirt and tapped at both the entrance and the exit scars. Suddenly the silence was complete.

Lighter than a feather Snake's fingers danced across Alex's skin, resting on the two small marks. He seemed to be making measurements, getting paler all the while. He pulled up Alex's hand and tried to fold it into a fist before Alex complied. He pressed the fist to the left of Alex's sternum. Than looked at the wound again.

"Can't be more than a centimetre." he breathed, more silent than anything else he had said.

Something stirred in Alex's memory. Your fist was approximately the size of your heart; both your fists together were about the same size as your brain.

"They said it was because I was a child and because I was moving down a step when it hit."

Snake nodded wordlessly. He'd never seen something so bad, well not on a living person at any rate but he'd treated them in the field.

"What exercises and medication where you given?"

Just like that things returned to the normal flow. Alex explained about the medicine ball and elastics and the dozen other stretching exercises he'd had. Snake tested both his arms for flexibility and noted that the left was, unsurprisingly, more restricted in its movement than the right.

A few more notes on the paper, then Snake straightened up.

"That seems to be all Mr Rider; you're generally in very good condition. I wish I had more patients like you, but than again if I did maybe I'd be out of a job. Let me not detain you anymore I'm sure your friends are waiting."

"Thanks Dr. Snake. I'll be seeing you."

"Hopefully not." Snake said with a grin, but they both knew it was a vain hope. The assassin had been professional and that made it evident that Alex Rider was used to dangerous jobs.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** Thanks for all the feedback. This was typed on word pad. my microsoft office won't open, so no spell checker, if you pick something up please shout. I originally intended for this chapter to be a little longer but I checked my word count and decided against it, I don't really want to have an information overload chappie. I do know that a spectroscope is generally produced using gases but I couldn't really find a believable way of making the correct gasses at camp, so yeah, bear with me. There is a slight jibe at the Alex Rider movie, forgivr mr but I couldn't resist, that thing really narked me at certain places. Seriously, who brings a cellphone on a mission which is connected to someone you're not supposed to be. I mean really. Enjoy :)

**A Waiting Game**

It was the attempts that worried Alex, not because they were dangerous, quite the opposite in fact, it was because they seemed half hearted. It made him worry that they were planning something big, or that he was missing the real threat, because the people who were after John wouldn't be soft on him because he was a child. They'd just make an example of him.

There'd been a land slide while they were on a jog round the camp, but Alex had heard that coming from a mile away, they'd just taken a detour. He wasn't even sure if it would have killed them. Injured, yes, killed? Probably not, only if a rock had landed on his head. It almost made him wonder if it had been natural, but tell tale traces of black powder on some of the rocks made him think other wise.

The next had been a hole in the canoe they'd been using. Well not a hole per se. A weakened spot that would have given way a short time into the row. Again, shoddy job, they couldn't know who would get into that canoe, and both Alex and John were strong swimmers.

Those and several other equally ridicules attempts left Alex on edge, a feeling which failed to dissipate even as he sat in Snake's First Aid class.

"Patient Assessment. One of the most important things you need to know. An incorrect assessment can lead to death, paralysis or a furthering of a bad condition. It is near impossible to be overly cautious when it comes to first aid. Any suggestions on things you can look for in a patient?"

One girl tentatively raised her hand and began speaking when Snake nodded at her.

"Well I've got a cousin who wears this bracelet sort of thing cause she's really allergic to sulpher. It's got a contact number and some other stuff on it."

Snake nodded, accepting the statement, and deciding to full it out.

"A medic alert, very good. They can often speak when a patient cannot. Allergies aren't the only thing they're used for, it can also list things like severe medical conditions and blood groups. There'll be a number on the back that you can give to the operator who answers your call so they can check what to do. Medic alerts come in the form of a bracelet or a necklace. Anyone else?"

A boy in the group spoke out in response to the question.

"Gotta see if they're bleeding and if they're breathing."

"Very good, those are both part of the primary survey. The primary survey consists of four things, airway, breathing, circulation and controlling excess bleeding. You, up here quickly."

Snake gestured to one of the boys in the front row, who he intended to use as a dummy.

"The easiest way of telling is if the patient is conscious and can talk to you. If they are the first three check points are ok and they should be able to tell you where they are hurt. If they're not you use the primary survey. You do it first and in order. If they're not breathing why bother stopping the bleeding?"

He motioned for the boy, Mikail, to lie on the ground and began talking again.

"It's not always that easy to see when an airway is blocked, the simplest thing to do is check if they're choking. If you suspect there is a problem, try the Heimlicht manouver."

He shift Mikail so that he could get his fists beneath the diaphram, in case some of the students had forgotten the name of the manouver he'd taught them, they could see it quite clearly.

"Next thing you do is see if they're breathing, you should be able to hear this or see the rise and fall of their chest, if you've got a mirror hold it over their mouth and nose. If it mists up, they're breathing. If they're not breathing you start with CPR and mouth-to-mouth immediately, get a bystander to look at their wounds."

CPR- Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation. Cardio meant hurt, Pulmonary meant lungs and to resuscitate was to bring some one back from unconsciousness or apparent death. Alex doubted any of the other campers respected that procedure like he did. It had saved his life before and he'd been very glad to have a chance to revise his knowledge of it.

"Once you've completed the primary survey you move on to the secondary survey, which starts with the vital signs. Today we'll start with the first two signs, the level of consciousness and the pulse. Can anybody tell me why we would want to check the level of consciousness?"

Alex was a little surprised to see that John intended to answer the question, he usually preferred not to answer or join in in discussions at all.

"We can tell what condition they're in usually they should be alert, orientated, talking, that sort of thing. If they're not they're probably injured or sick, or waking up. I also heard that their state of consciousness is the most reliable sign when you're checking out the functionality of the central nervous system."

"You heard right, I don't really have much to add to that so lets move on to the pulse. Where can we take the pulse and what does it tell us. Yes, young lady at the back."

"There's the carotid pulse in your neck and the radial pulse in your wrist and they tell you if the heart is beating."

"Very good, more than that they tell you what condition a person is in. We check three things, first how fast or slow the pulse is, between 60 and 80 beats per minute is acceptable, more or less than that and you should be worried. Remember the pulse is slower when someone is lying down."

Snake pulled up Mikail and touched his middle and fore fingers to his neck and wrists.

"Never check the pulse with your thumb you'll get an inaccurate reading. if you lose count when trying to make a minute or for some reason don't have a minute to waste time for 15 seconds and quadruple the beats or thirty seconds and double your count, it won't be the most accurate reading but good enough. "

He let go of Mikail and indicated that the boy could go and sit down again before continuing with his lecture.

"Next thing you note is rhythm and strength. Heart beats should be regular and the stronger the better. If you're struggling to find a pulse, rather assume someone may be hurt than think you're no good at it. Now I'd like you to pair off and take your own pulse and your partner's pulse."

Most people just turned round to the person at either their right or the left, a couple stood up and walked round before settling on someone but quite quickly everyone was paired off and with their hands at a neck or a wrist. Alex had always preferred taking the radial pulse and quickly found his own before moving to John.

Alarm bells went off five seconds into his analysis. John's heart beat was way to fast and if it had been regular Alex would have tried to estimate how many beats in a minute. Instead he was trying to work out if there was a pattern to the missed beats he was picking up. Hand still on John's wrist his other arm shot into the air.

"What're you doing Al?"

"What have you eaten today? Quickly before Snake gets here, anything I haven't seen?"

"No nothing 'cept breakfast. Why?"

"Your pulse is off, very off, you could just be sick but then again..." Alex trailed off as Snake approached.

"Sorry sir, just think John here might be a little sick, his pulse is really fast and I think he's missing a couple of beats."

Snake frowned and put his fingers beneath John's jaw bone.

"Yes, it seems you've caught something, Alex was it? Probably the start of a cold. You'd better come with me and we'll see if we can nip this in the bud."

John scrambled to his feet and followed Snake with Alex not half a foot behind. When they reached the medical cabin Snake sent John through to his office and turned round to face Alex. Putting one hand on his shoulder. Something slid out of his sleeve and landed in the top pocket.

"Sorry kid, you'll have to wait here, my office is tiny enough as it is, he'll be out in a minute."

Leaning closer he murmured in an undertone.

"You may want to look into absorption line spectra, very interesting things."

Alex gave no indication of having heard him, instead he looked over Snake's shoulder at John, raising his eyebrows by way of a question. It's Oh-Kay John mouthed back in response. Alex nodded and moved to a seat in the waiting room and pulled out his cell phone. One for the mission, not actually his own one, that would be looking for trouble.

At google's home page he typed in 'homemade spectroscope'. He already knew about emission and absorption line spectra getting a spectroscope would be the hard part. The line spectra were a means of telling exactly what was contained within a substance based on the colours produced.

The first site he went into seemed promising. A CD or DVD, that could be difficult, a cardboard box, two single edged razor blades, he'd check at arts and crafts and if he couldn't find something there he'd check if he dismantle the razor he used to shave. The cardboard centre of a toilet role, yes, some cellophane and aluminium tape. He winced at the last one, that could be difficult.

Ten minutes later, John was in the sick bay for an allergic reaction. Unfortunately, seeing as no blood tests had ever picked up an allergy; they were in the dark as to what had caused the problem. He was confined to the sick bay for the rest of the day and possibly the day after, depending on Snake's diagnosis.

"It's fine mate, you go on and enjoy the rest of the day, I mean, it'd be a little odd if you hung out here all day wouldn't it?"

Grudgingly Alex nodded.

"Alright, but I'm just outside and I'll be back in if I see anyone come in here."

Alex's first stop was Arts and Crafts, the activities there were headed by a short Asian woman called Wang. She didn't seem to mind who joined of left her activities provided they left their work area clean. She was completely unperturbed by Alex coming into one of her activities late and simply pointed him towards the wood he was supposed to use to make his own photo frame. Instead of making for the wood Alex instead turned to her.

"I was wondering if I could borrow some supplies? I've found a do-it-yourself science project but I don't really have access to much stuff."

Yeah, sure, what do you need?"

"A cardboard box, cellophane and duct tape."

"We've got all of that the supply cupboard is over there. Cellophane will be under the bottom shelves on the floor, along with some coloured paper. We've got some fold it yourself gift boxes which should be in that area and the duct tape will be in on of the ice-cream tubs. Just check the labels."

Alex thanked her and quickly ducked into the art supply room. Tins of paint, boxes of crayons and pastels and ice cream tubs lined the walls. The cellophane was easy enough to spot and thankfully they had clear cellophane not just the coloured variety. He took one of the older pieces which had already been cut out but was still quite large and the biggest "fold-your-own" box he could find.

Art supplies, glue guns, scissors, markers, glue, beads, craft knives & spare blades...

Alex allowed a feeling of satisfaction to wash over him as he open the box and saw a fair selection of craft knives and blades. Not only for them but for other equipment too. He palmed two and stuck them in his top pocket next to Snake's package. A mini CD as it so happened, the type some video cameras used, unburnt. He'd checked in the bathrooms when he'd gone to fetch the loo roll he needed for his project.

Finally he found some duct tape, a substitution for the aluminium tape. He'd read through what it was needed for and found that it's main purpose was to keep light out of the box, seal the corners and any other openings. So all he needed was thick, coloured duct tape which the art supply room had in excess.

Back on his bunk at the cabin Alex stared down at his handy work, a passable attempt at a spectroscope. Next to him lay about thirty odd tablets, the one thing that John regularly took that Alex didn't. Alex had taken ten from each bottle. If they'd poisoned him using his tablets chances were that some of the other tablets were either false or covered in the same stuff.

He crushed half of one of the tablets and dissolved it in a small portion of water and placed the glass in front of the small opening between the razor blades. Next he adjusted the laser in the pen Smithers had given him so that it wouldn't burn a hole through his spectroscope and shone it through the water into the slit.

The first of the tablets he checked all had the same colours, reds and oranges mainly, the odd touch of yellow. He noted down what he saw and attached the notes the bottle of the tablets once he'd gone through the ten related to it. The second set of tablets also produced a general spectrum that didn't vary from tablet to tablet, far more yellow in than the previous bottle. Whether that meant that all twenty tablets had been poisoned or if that was the norm he didn't know.

The change came on the 37th glass, one of the multivitamins. Instead of the familiar spectrum there was a sudden shock of blue that hadn't been there before and a distinct lack of red and orange. That meant that whatever was in this was absorbing a wavelength that the normal tablets weren't. It was composed of different elements. Alex quickly attached his notes to the final bottle, chucking all three in a bag before moving off to the medical bay.

"Here to visit John Alex? I'm afraid he's out cold, part of the medication I gave him, but he should be alright by tomorrow."

Alex gave his head a slight shake, dropping his bag next to one of the chairs in the office.

"Guess I'll come back later then, never really been one for standing round watching sleeping people."

While he was speaking Alex placed the other half of the offending tablet on the table and pushed it across to Snake.

"I brought his multivitamins over, he usually takes them any morning and if he's sick I figured **where's the harm?**"

"Where indeed Alex, where indeed."

Alex was quite surprised to find that Eagle not only seemed to be good at bird watching but genuinely seemed to love what he was doing. It almost made him feel guilty for not really paying attention. He silently promised himself that he'd come back here with John when he could actually look at birds instead of the people going in and out of the sick bay.

"Okay, so in summary, keep your eye on the bird, rather make sure you know exactly what you're looking at and then try and find it in the book. Listen to see if you can here it's call. Try and get an idea of what size the bird is. Use branches and leaves as a reference point unless you found the bird with your naked eye and then used the binoculars. In which case you should already have a pretty good idea of its size. Look for striking features and unique markings. Look at shape, shape of the bill, tail, head, legs and so on. Good luck, I'll be round to help you."

Half an hour later Eagle eventually made his way past Alex. Bending down to talk to him, the same as he had at every other camper. Absentmindedly he began checking Alex's binoculars.

"I'll forgive you for not watching properly this time, but next time I expect you to find and identify twice the number of birds as everyone else. How's the mark?"

"Seems to be getting better, Snake's taking care of him. Why mark? You make it sound like we're going to attack him."

"Maybe not a bad idea, it could help keep him safe. Besides, mark sounds cool, I couldn't resist."

Eagle flashed him a smile that was missing two molars. Alex silently documented that information. Probably from a blow to the side of his jaw. The kick back from a gun or a head on blow would have removed teeth closer to the front.

"Can't say you ever struck me as the bird watching type."

"I was one of six kids Cub, I had to do something. My dad owned a pet store and we used to have to help maintain the cages and all that, you learn a couple of things, start building an interest. Actually, I generally found that birds were more interesting than my siblings, but that's another story. I was our wildlife expert back at the last camp, remember?"

"Wilderness and survival expert, yeah I remember. I thought that just involved tramping through mud and knowing the best spot to pitch a tent.' Alex replied half jokingly.

"And making sure that only the team mates I don't like eat poisonous mushrooms."

Alex chuckled under his breath at the joke, shaking his head and promising that he would never eat something Eagle tried to feed him without letting someone else try it first. Looking equally amused, Eagle straightened himself up and prepared to move on to the next camper.

"It's just like a stake out you know Cub. It's a hobby that requires patience and precision and it all boils down to one big waiting game."


End file.
